Beth Ferrier’s Blog

Without a doubt, the hardest decision for me, when it comes to quilting, is settling on a background fill. I have my favorites and I argue with myself about falling back on tried and true. I want to use a fill that will compliment the quilt, and be interesting, but not more interesting than the applique and piecing. Scale is important too. Too big and loose will look like I got lazy and just wanted the darn thing done. Too small and tight will make the piece stiff and take freaking forever.

For a quilt with lots of curves, a linear design makes a nice counterpoint. Conversely, a geometric design is often complimented with a curvy quilting design. In the end, I used a peacock eye design, mostly because I had just taught a class in free motion quilting and was reminded of how fun this design is to stitch. So much for science.

The open corners on the borders are just begging for some sexy stitching. I decided to do some simple princess feathers, mostly because I could use the heart shape in the corner to change the direction of the feathers. It mirrors the heart shapes in the flower petals and the flutterby wings. Using a flexible ruler I marked just the spines. I used a pale peach rayon thread (by Sulky, I think, it’s been in my thread stash for a while). It seemed to me that the quilting needed a little more oomf to hold its own against the vibrant colors of the applique.

Simple curves on the pieced blocks, flowers and leaves completed the quilting.

All that remained was that lovely, peaceful task of turning the binding. I’m totally old school on this, stitching by hand. Because my hands are still healing, it took several hours to complete the binding. It made for a lovely morning, in my rocker on the front porch, listening to my latest addiction, the “In Death” series by J. D. Robb, aka Nora Roberts. (I’m working my way through the series, up to Born in Death.)

I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of my spiffy nails (installed at the local mall). Yep, I’ve definately reentered my sparkly phase.

Some things you just say yes to, no matter what. When the wonderful folks at American Quilters Society ask if you’d like to teach at the show in Paducah, KY there is pretty much just one answer.

 The request came the day after my first book deadline, while I was in Houston at Quilt Market. I was already booked for the weekend of the show and ordinarily I would have just declined the invitation. But since AQS is a pretty big deal, and the group already camping out on those dates was able to shift to the next weekend, I was very happy to say yes.

 What I didn’t figure in was the amount of paperwork that would need to be done immediately. As in, before the next book deadline. As in, the instant I returned from Houston. Yikes! But  it all got done and now registration is open.

I’m thrilled to be teaching a ton of classes. One class is on a new applique technique that will be included in the new book.

Two piecing classes are available. The first is Tools Rule. This is a fantastic class for those of you who chop your stash up into strips or noodles or worms. Of course, the class will also include tons of my favorite sneaky piecing tricks and tips. (The fabric is way prettier than shown. I need to work on my photography skills.)

The other piecing class is Slick Slicing Tricks. I’ve squeezed lots of my very best sneaky piecing tricks into this little quilt.  Kits will be provided for all three of these classes, with lots of the prep work already done so we can get right down to business.

And finally, I’m teaching three classes on free motion quilting. It’s kind of funny. Guilds book me mostly to teach applique and piecing classes, but when I lecture most of the questions are about the quilting on my quilts. Even though I do mostly traditional quilts I would say that my quilting style is a little more contemporary. It is most definitely playful.

The first class, Romancing the Stitch, is an all day workshop that covers from basic design, specialty threads, bobbin work and fills galore.

Feathers and Ferns focuses on creating marvelous motifs in our quilting.

And finally, Beginning Free Motion Quilting is just the right class for those who have never dropped their feed dogs but would love to learn how.

Registration is already started and classes are beginning to fill. I’ve never been to the show at Paducah so it will be quite an adventure for me. Have you been? What words of advice do you have for me?

Finally, finally, time to sew!

So that I can clear the decks for new projects I decided that I needed to finish a few. Yes, yes, that makes me one of those, a dreaded finisher, but I’m a very selective finisher. I admit to many projects that will never be finished. They get filed under “what was I thinking” and ultimately get given or thrown away.

Before the fun can begin we must first baste. This is a hump I still have to talk myself over. After thirty years of pin basting, and the agony that entails, my head still considers it as much fun as a sharp stick in the eye.

First the backing must be pressed and taped down. The pressing wouldn’t be necessary if I had basted the quilt when the backing was pieced. It was that little issue of disappearing seams that lead to a hiccup in the process.

And then my newest best friend, the Microtack basting gun makes very quick work of the basting. I love this thing! Anybody want a thousand number one nickel plated safety pins?

Almost always my first step is to stitch in the ditch, especially around the appliques. I’ve decided that I’m a touchy-feelly quilter. The close contact of guiding the needle around the shapes helps me decide what quilting design to use.

Just for grins I started by outlining the center block. My plan was to stitch that first. But how? Sometimes it helps to flip over the quilt and look at just the outline shapes to determine the design. It was interesting to me so I thought maybe I would trace the outlines onto practice fabric and test drive some patterns.

When I covered the block with this fabric I saw only the values of the fabric, and three concentric shapes. I traced it with water soluble ink just in case it bled through to the quilt top, and then stitched it out.

Just the act of stitching the lines started the ideas flowing about how to exploit the shapes. Interesting, huh? So, as so typical of me lately I started quilting the snot out of it. (That would be the technical term.)

I do like the channel quilting in the middle ring. But still, not quite right. The squares are small, the shapes confined. The fabric is happy and whimsical but this center design is, I don’t know, overwrought maybe?

So back to stitching in the ditch. Listen to the quilt. I know that sounds all artsy-fartsy, but it’s what I do. As I stitch slowly around each shape I study it, imagining stitching on it and in it.

I’m using Rainbow trilobal polyester thread by Superior. It’s one of my favorite threads for quilting because the veriegated colors are so spectacular. It is perfect for stitch in the ditch, giving just a little splash of color and spark, but perhaps it’s too fine for this quilt. Perhaps this project calls for something more substantial.

As I’m quietly and slowly stitching around the shapes I find myself thinking that maybe this happy little quilt doesn’t need a lot of flashy quilting. Maybe just a simple, swirly fill in the background fabrics, and a few understated lines in the applique and blocks, are all it needs.

Maybe for this quilt, less is more. We’ll see.

Last week a fun little box arrived from my friends at Superior Threads. I’ve been wanting to experiment with silk ribbons and fabrics for some time. These little lovelies were just the push I needed to get to it. Heather is so terrific with thread colors I can’t wait to see what she does with silk ribbon!

There were 4 mm ribbons in several greens and blues and 7mm ribbons in white and pale yellow, and Bottom Line threads to match.

Now, what to do, what to do.

The last couple of years I’ve been picking up fat quarters of silk fabric at quilt shows. I’m just a sucker for silk. The colors are so rich, and silk has such a luxurious luster. I also picked up some embossed cotton velvet from Judith Montano Baker while in La Veta for The Quilt Show taping.

My limited color choices were a bit of a challenge, but this is what I came up with. I had green, brown, gold and this red in the fancy velvet. The red showed the ribbon colors the best, so it won.

To choose the colors for the flowers I found a dupioni silk in a rosey pink that played nicely with the red background, and then two more fabrics that played with the pink.

The light colored ribbons became the basket, sewn in place with a double needle. The green ribbons, twisted together, were sewn down with invisible thread for the stems.

The blue ribbons were knotted together and stuck to a yellow circle to make the small posies.

Notice the little ruffle in the center of the large flowers?

 I followed the embossed pattern on the velvet for the quilting and bound the quilt with a silk/cotton blend. I used Rainbow in shades for red for the free motion work. The applique was quilted with Bottom Line threads. To finish the quilt, it was bound with a silk/cotton blend that matched the red perfectly. It looks like the comforting silky binding on a baby’s blankie.

 I really like how this quilt turned out. I’m excited to experiment with more colors and more ribbon choices. Good thing I’m on my way to International Quilt Festival and several days of retail therapy opportunities.

No, it’s not done, but it is at a point where we can take a prototype picture for the new book. I’ve been stitching away at it all week. As usual, the more I quilted the more I wanted to quilt!

Still to be done are the spaces around the pieced blocks and lots of little circles to fill in the voids between the feather garlands. I need to decide what to do, if anything, with the little space inside the sashing strips. I like the way the straightline stitching in the cornerstones looks like it curves. Perhaps I can reinforce that appearance somehow.

But for now, it’s time to do a mock cover of the new Ribbon & Blooms book so I can show it at the wholesale show tomorrow in Toledo. The book should be available for purchase around the first of September.

The hardest part is taking the first stitch. It’s like writing the first word in a blank book or making the first mark on a sketch page. It feels to me that I am just about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I never know how I’m going to quilt the whole quilt when I take the first stitches. The quilt tells me what to do. I know that sounds all artsy-fartsy, but it’s the truth. I always know where to start, that’s simply doing “ditch-stitching” around the applique and the pieced blocks. That’s the first step for visually pushing the background back and pulling the focus areas forward.

Now often I quilt the fun stuff first, on the applique and in the pieced blocks. For this quilt I decided to use the colorful quilting as reward for finishing the background. Wouldn’t a pile of threads like this motivate you, too? It’s my favorite part, adding dimension and texture to the colorful blocks and applique, adding vein lines to leaves is my most favorite.

But oh, those expanses of white, what to do, what to do? Should I chose an over all design and simply fill the space with loops, or lines or (*gasp*) stippling? I’ve done that on the last few quilts but this one seemed to need something else. Or maybe I was just in the mood to do something else. So, feathers it is, lots of feathers. And just because it’s fun, I’ve adding a few swirls to the feathers, and some ferns too.

With the background almost done, I started in on the color. I still have a ton of work to do on the background, but I have a deadline for showing the quilt and mostly done will do for this first display. I’ve always admired circles used as a fill, but I’ve never felt that I was very good at it. This quilt seemed like just the right place to practice. I’ll use the circle motif in the center of each of the pieced blocks and as fill around the feathers in the background. I figure by the time I’m done with this quilt I will have worked out the circle pattern and have another design in my repetoire of overall stitches.

As I was working on this quilt I realized why I like “improvisational” quilting. Working without marking makes me think. It’s gets me into corners that I need to design my way out of. Even when a motif is repeated the new space for it is slightly different from the last, requiring modifications and, delightfully, new discoveries. Each quilt really is practice for the next one, each quilt teaches me something. Not one of my quilts is perfect, oh, lordy me, not even close, but each one moves me along my journey. Will we ever get past that perfection thing? Does perfectionism spoil the fun for you, too?

The time for experimention is gone, this quilt needs to be quilted! So, back to doing what I know.

After another good pressing, the backing was clamped to the tables in the studio. I swear, this quilt has been pressed so many times, each time with a liberal dose of Magic Sizing, that this quilt is glazed. I’m expecting it to glide under the needle. One last check to make sure that the seams are up so they will end up inside, I sure don’t want to do this again.

Off to my batting stash to cut a chunk off. Kent made this wonderful holder/dispenser for my roll of batting, cool huh? The downside is that once I start rolling the batting it tends to want to completely unroll. I use the top of the closet door moulding to cut a straight path.

The batting is smoothed in place on top of the backing. I don’t clip it into place, it stays just fine. I’m always asked, so I’ll just say right here that my favorite batting is Hobb’s Heirloom, 80/20 cotton.

An hour and a half later and the quilt is basted. I do love the basting gun. It’s so much easier than closing pins. I used to put almost 1000 one inch nickle plated pins into a queen sized quilt. The MicroStitch really doesn’t damage the quilt top. Certainly, after basting this quilt three times, if the basting gun was going to damage it, I would have seen evidence of that, but not a single thread is out of place!

Now to decide how to quilt it. I’ll start with stitch in the ditch around the applique and the blocks, that much I know for sure. I think a trip to the local quilt shop to mull over thread choices is in order. You’d think that with all the time I’ve spent basting and unbasting this quilt that I’ve had figured it out already, but why rush into these things?

The first step was to repair the backing fabric I so brilliantly hacked to bits. To clean up the ragged edges I just tore the fabric. For most fabrics this will put the edge perfectly on grain, something very useful for the backing of a quilt.

In no time at all I had the bruised edges joined,  and pressed the seam open. I don’t want the bulk of a bump to mess up my quilting lines. I’m planning to quilt the snot out of this project, I’m not worried that the seam is less secure.

Okay, so, as painful as it was to actually follow instructions, I made the leader for the center pole and loaded the backing as directed by the manufacturer. They were kind enough to make the directions easily available on their website, seemed a bit discourteous to not actually use them. Looks good so far, and I even remembered to have the seam side up so that it will end up INSIDE the quilt.

The basting seemed to go so much better this time, but I was loosing confidence as I got closer to the center of the quilt.  I soldiered on, hoping that it would actually work.

But no, strike two. The backing is happy, perfect, not a single pucker. But the quilt top, oh, what a mess, again! What a disappointment.

It’s back to the basting frame for this quilt. The Ribbon & Blooms book is ready to go to the printer, all it needs is a picture of the finished quilt. Using the tack gun means that unbasting is a snap. And seeing the quilt laid out reminded me how pleased I’ve been with how it’s turn out so far.

I haven’t given up on the three pole frame for basting though. I think the idea is sound, I think it’s user error. When time permits I’m going to baste two layers of fabric and see if I can see where I’m going wrong. Any suggestions?

Okay, I’ll admit it. I hate to baste. It is the least fun part of making a quilt, and a most important step to do well if I want the quilting to go well.

For many years I pin basted. Ugh. A queen sized quilt can require almost a thousand pins. It took three days, and a resulted in a very sore back to pin-baste a big quilt.

A few years ago Avery/Dennison came out with a terrific basting gun. The needle is super fine, the tacks so tiny that they hold the layers securely without damaging the fabric. Yippie!

Out came the old basting frame. Retired after using it exactly once to pin baste (the weight of the pins caused the quilt to stretch making it impossible to quilt without puckers on the backing), the basting frame was perfect for tack basting. But it requires lots of space to set up and it’s hard to reach the center of a large quilt There’s got to be a better way.

So out comes the quilting frame. Oh, yeah, I’ve hand quilted exactly one quilt, but I still thought that I needed a frame. Kent built this one from a cool kit from Hinterberg, terrific huh?

So why couldn’t I use it to baste? Seemed like it should work. Since I had never used it (but see how smart I was to already have it?) I had to make the leaders for the poles. My plan was to attach and control the backing, just as when using the basting frame, and then float the batting and quilt top. Who needs that third pole anyway? I quickly pressed the amazing backing fabric that I bought from Sew Batik at the Minnesota Quilt Show. Isn’t it gorgeous? I can’t wait to see how the quilting thread looks on it!

It looked like a perfect plan. The basting went quickly. Oh, how brilliant am I! I was so convinced that the plan was perfect that I  cut the quilt off the frame, trimming away the extra backing and batting and trotted out into the yard to admire my handy work.

To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement. While the backing was perfect, the top and batting a terrible poofy mess. The one good thing, the tacks break free so easily that it took less than two minutes to unbaste the lot.

So now I’m back to square one, only the backing is now about five inches too short. I guess it will have a seam and a story. The great weather forecast means the basting frame will be set up in the back yard. I make these mistakes so you don’t have to. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Every June quilters from all over the world gather in Minnesota for their annual quilt show.  I gotta tell you, the folks with Minnesota Quilters know how to put on a show! When I first taught for them two years ago I was amazed at how big and how well organized the show was.

I’ll be back there again, for their 2007 show “Land of 10,000 Quilts”, June 13-16, to teach four classes. Two of the classes are already full, but there are spaces yet in the other two.

Without fail, the question I’m always asked during guild lectures is “how do you quilt your quilts?” I make big quilts and I quilt them all myself on my regular home sewing machine. My Machine Quilting Basics class is designed to answer all those questions, from start to finish. We’ll cover preparing the quilt, basting, using the walking foot and free motion quilting, all in one fun day at the sewing machine! This class is designed for everyone, from the absolute beginner to the experienced quilter.

While I am known best for my applique technique, piecing is my first love. As a designer, it’s my goal to create interesting designs that will help quilters improve and increase their piecing skills. My class, Fools for Tools was developed to showcase some of my favorite (and some of the smartest) tools available for quilters. Geared towards the confident beginner, this class is packed with clever cutting, piecing and pressing strategies that you can put to work on every project.

 Pre-registration for the classes continues until the end of the week. If you’re considering a quilty get away this spring, the Minnesota Quilter’s show in St. Paul is a fantastic choice. You’ll see gorgeous prize-winning quilts made by nationally known quilters, dozens and dozens of fantastic vendors and classes with some of the best teachers in the quilting universe!